Monday, March 4, 2013

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Moodle to Deliver Course Content

Moodle is a program that I have been using since my undergrad days at CCSU, but after graduation from the Tech Ed program I never though I would have to use it extensively again. But after getting back in the swing of things with the Ed Tech program, we are required to create a Moodle site for an online class. I think Distance Learning will become a more and more prominent way that students will seek to receive their educations. I know that the couple of online courses I have taken have saved me an hour long trek to school after work for a couple semesters.

I do believe there are both positive and negative drawbacks to using Moodle to delivering course content online. You have to be crystal clear with your directions. If you are not, you are setting yourself up for the same questions from students over and over. I feel like you would even be getting questions from students ever if you thought it was so easy a caveman could do it.

Delivering the content online could allow students to work at their own pace, rather than in the allotted time slot you have for class time. Students would have more access to outside resources that they could use to help them. At the same time, they could have outside sources pushing them in an opposite direction than where you as the teacher would envision they would go.

I also think that by delivering content online would make you a better teacher. Like I said earlier, you have to be crystal clear with you directions. Sometimes when you are teaching a class you can slide by and just figure out the lesson as you go along. When you deliver it online, you have to be prepared with your content. There is no room for error or unclear instructions.

If it Moodle is used properly, I believe it can be an effective tool to use as a teaching aid.

1 comment:

Joe I completely agree with you that the directions have to be explicit! There is no rooom for error. With the young age group I am working with I need to make sure th student and parent understand so I am incorporating a video chat time. I thin kthat is a good way to ask and answer questions as well.

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About Me

Hello everyone. My name is Joe Palmucci. I am a third year middle school tech ed teacher in Stratford, CT. I am creating this Blog as a requirement for my Masters Degree in Educational Technology which I am currently working on at Central Connecticut State University. I'd like to consider myself a technologically literate person. I obtained my Bachelors Degree in Technology and Engineering Education from Central Connecticut State University in 2010. I was hired to teach a program called Project Lead The Way (which you will here me refer to as PLTW). PLTW is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) program which is designed to promote pre-engineering in middle and high schools. I love teaching the curriculum and seeing the students put math and science skills into real world situations. I always felt like the curriculum could be spruced up a bit with the technology portion. Sure, we use Industry Standard CAD software and really cool robotics equipment, but I feel like there is so much more I could integrate into the curriculum. My goal of the blog is to talk about my integration of technology into the classroom.